32 



NEOTOMA FLO RID AN A. —Say et Ord. 



Flobida Rat. 

 PLATE IV. — Male, Female, and Young. — NatuKJ-sieer- 



N. corpore robusto, plumbeo, quoad lineam dorsalem nigro mixto, facie 

 et lateribus lusco-flavescentibus, infra albo ; cauda corpore paullo cur- 

 tiore, vellere molli. 



CHARACTERS. 



Body robust, lead colour, mixed with black, on the dorsal line ; face and 

 sides ferruginous-yellow, beneath white, tail a little shorter than the body ; 

 fur soft. 



SYNONYMES. 



Mus Flobidanhs, Ord, NouT. Bull, de la Soclete Philomatique, 1818. 

 Arvicola Floridanus, Harlan, Fauna Amer., p. 142. 



" " Godman, Nat. Hist., vol. ii., p. 69. 



Mos " Say, Long's Expedition, vol. i., p. 54. 



Neotoma Floridana, Say et Ord, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sciences, Philadelphia, vol. iv., part 



2, p. 352, figure. 

 Neotoma Floridana, Griffiths, Animal Kingdom, vol. iii., p. 160, figure. 



DESCRIPTION. 



The form of our very common white-footed or iield-mouse, (Mus leuco- 

 pus,) may be regarded as a miniature of that of the present species ; its 

 body has an appearance of lightness and agility, bearing some resem- 

 blance to that of the squirrel ; snout elongated ; eyes large, resembling 

 those of the common flying squirrel, (P. volucella ;) ears large, prominent, 

 thin, sub-ovate, clothed so thinly with fine hair as to appear naked ; tail 

 covered with soft hair ; whiskers reaching to the ears ; legs robust ; toes 

 annulate beneath ; thumb, minute ; in the palms of the fore-feet there 

 are five tubercles, and in the soles of the hind-feet six, of which the three 

 posterior are distant from each other ; nails, concealed by hairs, which 

 extend considerably beyond them ; mammae, two before, and four behind. 



COLOUR. 



The body and head are lead-colour, intermixed with yellowish and 



